


Bright Light From Above

by CarolimePie



Series: Past Lives (i have no impulse control) [6]
Category: Lunch Club, Lunch Club (Podcast), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Past Lives, Historical, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Past Lives, dont be weird about it tho ya nasties, shipping is allowed as they ARE dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26002690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarolimePie/pseuds/CarolimePie
Summary: hope you enjoy!!!a note: just because charlie and grace are dating does not mean you can be weird about it. they're people, not an OTP.
Relationships: Charlie Dalgleish & Grace Safford, Charlie Dalgleish/Grace Safford
Series: Past Lives (i have no impulse control) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1784758
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Bright Light From Above

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoy!!!  
> a note: just because charlie and grace are dating does not mean you can be weird about it. they're people, not an OTP.

Waiting is not one of Charlie’s strong suits. He prefers to get things done quickly, then move onto the next.

Yet here he is! Staring at a computer screen watching a bar slowly tick up.

Ugh, uploading.

The easiest part of the video process, yet the most boring.

Sure, he could go to bed and wake up to a video ready to be made public. He  _ had _ told Grace he would go to bed soon.

Of course, that was also an hour ago.

But the stubborn side of him wanted to wait.

Despite this, his eyes were heavy.

_ ‘I’ll just close them for a minute,’ _ he thought, resting his forehead against the desk.

He was asleep before he knew it.

Chester is lucky to be working this job.

Filming  _ the _ Gertrude Starr? At one of the first sound movies ever? He’s lucky to have landed this.

Especially after his  _ embarrassing _ failure at the newspaper shop. Two bad articles on the Titanic and the American Revolution, and he was out. 

But! He’s here now. Holding a camera stand with shaky hands. And-

And Gertrude had arrived on set. 

The director motioned for them all to get ready. At his signal, Chester began to record. 

“Take o- er, would someone fix the lighting? She’s all dark on one half.”

A  _ clang _ sounded from above, along with a shout of fear.

And then everything happened quickly.    
Chester looked up. He saw a dark shape falling from above, headed straight to-straight towards Gertrude. His body moved on its own, rushing past the camera and crashing into her. Shoving her out of the way and him into the danger.    
He looked up again just in time to see a bright light searing into his vision, and then-

“Charlie? Charlie!”

Someone was shaking his shoulder. 

He looked up, seeing only bright lights flashing in his eyes. Toppling back with a yell, Charlie hit the floor and covered his face. Waiting for… something.

But there was nothing in sight as he lowered his arms. Only his very concerned girlfriend staring down at him from where he sat on the floor.

“My god, are you alright?” Grace said, stepping forward hesitantly. “I heard you yell, but you were still sleeping. It scared the shit out of me!”   
He shook his head, standing on wobbly legs. “I don’t know. Bad dream- I don’t remember what happened.”   
A half-lie. He remembered… lights. Screaming. Her-

A piercing headache forms, faster than usual ones. 

“Fuck,” He mutters, putting a hand to his forehead and wincing at the pain. 

“Headache?”    
“Yeah, a really bad one, too.”   
“Jeez, you had a rough night.” Grace offers her arm. “C’mon, I’ll help you to bed. Maybe sleeping will help.”   
“Maybe,” he accepts her arm, letting her lead him into their bedroom.

As he lies in the dark, his eyes won’t shut. They’re glued to the ceiling as if they’re looking for something.

Eventually, his eyes are too tired to stay open, and he drifts into sleep.

He dreams of newspapers with unreadable articles, cameras with no video, lights with no light.

When he wakes up well into the afternoon, his headache is gone. The dreams are nothing more than a wisp of a memory.

The rest of the week is, mercifully, normal.

No strange dreams.

No dreams at all.

A completely normal week, until it wasn’t.

“Charlie!” Grace laughs from the other room. “C’ mere, I found something interesting. 

When he comes into the room, he spots her sitting at the desk, grinning at something on her screen. 

As he leans over her shoulder, he flinches slightly at the light.

Grace points to a black-and-white image on the screen.

“Look at that! I was looking at some newspaper articles from the ’20s, and I found this actress. She looks so much like me, this is crazy.”   
Squinting at the grainy image, he’s surprised- then an uncomfortably familiar feeling settles over him.

The actress looks like Grace.  _ Too  _ much like Grace. She looks like-

“Gertrude Starr,” Grace marvels. “That’s crazy. I wonder if she has a Wikipedia or anything.”   
She hasn’t noticed Charlie’s dumbfounded stare.

The google search “Gertrude Starr” only yields two articles. 

“Suicides in the ‘20s” and “Suicides That Could’ve Been Murders”

“Yikes,” Grace pulls a face. “Guess we’re lucky she just looks like me!”   
She looks back at him, expecting a response.    
“You in there? Earth to Charlie?” She waves a hand in front of his face and he snaps out of his trance.

“Ah! Sorry, I zoned out for a second.” Charlie smiles as best as he can. “Yeah, that’s super crazy. We are lucky!” He laughs.

As he walks out of the room, his mind is full of questions.

One sticks out, however.

_ ‘What does this all mean?’ _

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!!!


End file.
